Flux data in the Greenland Basin

Results of long-term sediment trap deployments and adjoining process studies are presented, and the underlying methodological and conceptional background is discussed. Recent extension of these investigations at the Barents Sea continental slope are also presented.

With similar conditions of input irradiation and nutrient conditions, the Norwegian and Greenland Seas exhibit comparable mean annual rates of new and total production. Major differences can be found between these regions, however, in the hydrographic conditions constraining primary production and in the composition and seasonal development of the plankton. This is reflected in differences in the temporal patterns of vertical particle flux in relation to new production in the euphotic zone, the composition of particles exported and in different processes leading to their modification in the mid-water layers.